1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to processing equipment for use with drupaceous type fruit and particularly to means for pitting such fruit.
2. Description of Prior Art
Devices to remove pits from fruit have long been available and known in the art for many years. These devices operate at relatively slow speeds and at relatively low efficiency since, first, such devices as presently available cannot pit overripe fruit, secondly, the fruit which is processed by the machines remains with a certain percentage of pits still present, and thirdly, during the pitting operation, a certain percentage of the meat of the fruit is removed along with the pit.
To obtain 100 pounds of pitted cherries using devices presently available required 125 pounds of cherries containing typically 13 pounds of pits. During pitting, an additional 12 pounds of fruit was removed along with the 13 pounds of pits.
The efficiency of removing pits is demonstrated by the presently existing U.S. Agricultural Department standards for U.S. Grade A or U.S. Grade Fancy for cherries which allows one pit per 40 ounces of processed fruit. In practical terms, if a pound of processed cherries is used in a typical cherry pie, each third pie theoretically contains a hidden pit to be encountered by an unwary consumer.
One example of such a device presently in use for pitting cherries includes a rotating drum having an outer surface covered with rows of recessed cups which receive a flow of fruit from a conveyor located above the drum. A worker standing over the drum distributes fruit onto the top surface of the drum and hopefully into those cups in the row having a vertical orientation. As the drum rotates, the fruit is moved to a pitting station where a needle-like plunger is driven into the cup which may or may not contain a piece of fruit. As the drum continues to rotate, the row in which the pitted fruit is located eventually reaches a bottom vertical or inverted position where the contents of the cup will normally be removed by gravity. As the drum rotates upward to a top vertical position, the cup is again filled with fruit for further processing.
Other pitting devices include means for retaining a piece of fruit, moving such to a pitting station, and then removing the fruit after pitting, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,360,412, U.S. Pat. No. 2,248,818, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,223.